FEN TO FRINGE - PREVIEW OF PRE-EDINBURGH SHOWS

If you can’t make it to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – the Blue Whale of festivals – don’t give up – help is at hand at the Cambridge Junction. Their annual festival of Fringe previews is about to start and the shows on offer could not be more eclectic. Each evening from tomorrow until Thursday, a fascinating double bill of serious theatre, comic works, cabaret and physical daredevilry is on offer in Cambridge’s most exciting space.

First off is a new piece, ‘Oh Yes, Oh No’ described as ‘playful, surreal and dark’ (my favourite trio). This potentially hard-hitting work will be followed by ‘Come Dine with Mr Shakespeare’ in which four familiar characters from the Bard’s pen compete in a TV cookery show – will Lady Macbeth become the master chef of mayhem? It all sounds very intriguing and very Edinburgh.

Pre-fringe lunacy continues the next night with ‘Lighthouse’ and the splendidly titled, ‘Three Menopausal Maids’. The former is promoted as a ‘multidisciplinary work combining dance, circus and object theatre working with PVC plastic tubes’. This surely is a first for Cambridge and it sounds brilliantly dotty. The Maids story promises wacky flights of fancy around ageing, nostalgia and gossip.

The final two shows on Thursday keep up the offer of fringe benefits with ‘All of Me’ described as an ‘intimate and absurd exploration of wanting to live, wanting to die and what can happen if we sit together in the dark’. The show comes with a serious warning about containing nudity and themes of suicide. The last presentation ‘I Amdram’ explores the themes of amateur dramatics, cultural inheritance and a secret love of musical theatre. It all sounds unmissable.

The three-day fest is a brilliant idea whetting the appetite for the full Monty (this year there are over 3,000 performances in Edinburgh). It is good to see these highly talented and relatively local companies display their edgy wares. It should all be a hoot and a great taster for your 400-mile trip north.

For details of the six shows and booking information: www.junction.co.uk